2 More Charged In Naperville Heist

U.s.: Supervisors Behind Scheme

January 13, 2000|By Matt O'Connor, Tribune Staff Writer.

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NEW CHARGES FILED IN BANK HEIST

2 MORE BRANCH `INSIDERS' TIED TO NAPERVILLE HOLDUP

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Months after federal authorities thought they had solved the bizarre, staged holdup of a suburban bank by three young employees and five teenage accomplices, two former supervisors at the branch were charged Wednesday with concocting the idea to cover up their theft of bank funds.

The new charges allege that Jadwiga "Harriet" D'Andrea, former manager of the TCF Bank branch in a Naperville Jewel, and Tracey Thorne, a supervising teller at the branch, had allegedly stolen about a combined $10,000 from their teller drawers and schemed with another bank supervisor, Terry Twist, to stage a robbery to conceal the embezzlements.

For months, authorities had believed that Twist, the top supervisor at the bank on the night of the holdup Feb. 15, was the mastermind behind the scheme and had enlisted a 16-year-old teller to recruit several friends.

The vault was emptied of nearly $90,000 in the heist, but investigators quickly grew suspicious of Twist and two co-workers on duty that night.

Wednesday's charges allege that as the pressure built, D'Andrea hid Twist in her home for a few days before Thorne helped him move to a motel in Oswego. Finally, in a bid to help Twist elude the FBI and Naperville police, D'Andrea drove him to a hotel in Arizona, according to the charges.

Twist, 26, who was arrested with the help of his sister in a San Diego suburb Feb. 24, is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday in federal court in Chicago.

Originally, when Twist was indicted in April, authorities said he and the 16-year-old teller came up with the idea just days before the robbery.

But Wednesday's charges allege that the plot had unfolded over a course of more than two months, after D'Andrea and Thorne stole money from their teller drawers.

Authorities said the new charges were the result, in part, of Twist's decision to break months of silence and disclose the role of the two women in the alleged scheme.

D'Andrea explained the theft to Twist by saying that her Christmas spending had gotten out of control, according to sources.

Something had to be done to cover the theft because D'Andrea was scheduled to be transferred to another bank branch in January 1999, and higher-ups would discover any shortfall then.

At first, D'Andrea and Thorne wanted Twist to act as the robber, but he declined, sources said.

The two women then traveled to Downstate Bloomington to recruit someone to pose as the stick-up man, but the undisclosed individual backed out at the last minute, according to authorities.

It was at that point, the charges allege, that Twist told the 16-year-old teller of the plans to stage a holdup.

Authorities said the 16-year-old teller quickly lined up several friends to help: John Falls, 17, acted as the robber; John Pasqurella, 17, hid some of the loot; and three other 16-year-old boys assisted by driving Falls from the robbery scene or holding onto the money.

Leanne Janowski, another teller working the night of the holdup, was recruited at the last minute to stand outside the Jewel as a signal to Falls to rob the bank. Janowski, Falls, Pasqurella and the juveniles have been convicted on charges in connection with the robbery plot.

A sixth bank employee at the TCF branch took part in discussions in which the heist was first raised, but that teller didn't take an active role in the scheme and is unlikely to be charged, according to sources.

Twist, Janowski and the 16-year-old teller falsely reported the bank had been held up by a lone robber and provided a description of the suspect.

But investigators quickly grew suspicious, in part because a couple of Jewel workers on break outside the store said Janowski didn't seem surprised when Falls forced her into the bank.

As the heat grew on Twist, D'Andrea concealed him at the house she shared with boyfriend, Michael Mitchell, from Feb. 17 to 19.

On Feb. 18, Twist, Thorne, D'Andrea and Mitchell met at the same house to count and divide some of the theft proceeds.

Thorne is accused of taking about $10,000 of the loot, but in another odd twist, authorities said the money went right back into the bank to cover the funds she and D'Andrea had embezzled.

That same day, Twist paid Mitchell $4,000 with cash from the theft for Mitchell's driver's license and other identification.

For that, Mitchell previously pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to 2 years' probation.

Over the next two days, on Feb. 19 and 20, D'Andrea drove Twist to Arizona and helped him check into a hotel in Mitchell's name.

Twist has remained in federal custody since his arrest Feb. 24 near San Diego.

One reason Twist might not have told authorities immediately about the alleged involvement of the two women co-workers was that D'Andrea was pregnant at the time with Mitchell's child, according to sources.